Paranormal After Dark: 20 Paranormal Tales of Demons, Shifters, Werewolves, Vampires, Fae, Witches, Magics, Ghosts and More

by Rebecca Hamilton

  Jinx had already entranced the rest of the humans with his hypnotic stare, so by the time Grimm and Kali emerged from the compartment, everything was almost back to normal.

  Sebastian nodded when Grimm glanced his way, as they took their seats. After a while of listening to the chatter around them, he leaned in. “I'll never forget what you've done for me and for everyone. I'll never forget you.”

  This was more than any human had said before. They didn't need his gratitude, but Grimm couldn't stop his heart from lifting in his chest in response. He glanced at Kali. Her eyes were closed, her body still. She’d returned to her normal controlled state, closed off from them once again, as though the moment in the compartment had never happened at all.

  Grimm relaxed into the seat and closed his eyes. He could hear Jinx and the human talking across him. He tried to block them out. His body ached, his chest felt soft and tender. This battle was finally over. They’d won—for now. At this moment, the Balance was restored.

  “Wait. You okay? Hey. Hey! Breathe!”

  Grimm felt an elbow impale his tender ribs. His eyes flew open and he turned to where Jinx had reached over Grimm to grab hold of the human. The vampire’s stricken look had Grimm shooting forward, knocking Jinx’s hand out of the way.

  “I just gave him some of my nuts.” Jinx held up the open, metallic bag. “They’re just peanuts.”

  Sebastian’s face was now turning from bright pink to blue, like a vibrant sunset, although not quite as romantic. The human thrashed and clawed at his throat.

  “You've got to be fucking kidding me!” Grimm roared and grabbed the human.

  “Breathe... breathe, dammit.”

  The human stopped struggling and his arms went limp.

  “Is he dead?” someone demanded from behind Grimm. “Jesus, I think he’s dead.”

  Grimm turned to stare at a chubby woman, her questions aimed at Grimm like a deadly sword. “No, he isn’t dead!”

  Grimm turned back to him, taking in the human’s glazed stared. Fuck, the dude looks dead. A wave of dizziness washed over Grimm and he shook his head. No… no… no! If he allowed this human to die their battle would have all been for nothing. The weight of this burden was too much to bear. He gulped down air to stop from screaming and searched the plane for someone to help them.

  “Move! I’m a doctor. Get out of my way!” A man pushed Grimm aside. He could only watch helplessly as the physician grabbed the man from his arms.

  “You see, you were doing it all wrong. This man is choking. His head has to be tilted at exactly a forty-five degree angle and you are to strike the patient in between the shoulder blades, like so.

  Grimm couldn’t stop himself from snapping. “I don't need a running commentary, doctor. Just fucking save him, please!”

  A tiny white object flew from the human’s mouth, hitting the chubby female rubber-necker in the face.

  A cheer filled the cabin. The human took a breath, coughed, and inhaled again. Slowly the man’s color returned, and as the human opened his eyes, Grimm couldn’t help but mutter. “When I told you to find out why you’d been saved, I didn’t mean for you to ask your maker, human.”

  Sebastian slumped into his seat and nodded. His chest expanded and the glazed stare faded as color flooded back into his face. He swallowed and croaked. “Thanks. Again.”

  Grimm lowered him back into his seat and then dropped like a stone back into his own. The spotlight wasn’t lost on the doctor. The man puffed his chest out, focused on the crowd. “Yes, well. That’s how you save a choking victim.”

  “I'm sorry, Grimm.” Jinx shook his head. “I almost killed him. I almost killed the freaking human.”

  It wasn’t safe for immortals to be around Jinx, let alone a freaking human. Grimm couldn’t help but feel sorry for the vamp. “He's okay Jinx, look at him. He’s fine.”

  The human leaned forward. “I’m fine, really I’m okay. It was just an accident.”

  “We fight an army of vampires. Disable a bomb, and stop the entire plane from being killed—by me. Then, he almost kills the one person we’re sent to save with a fucking peanut?”

  Kali's comment summed up Jinx, exhibiting the same amount of confusion Grimm felt.

  “You, my friend, are a walking fucking accident.”

  Chapter 26

  Adley

  ADLEY STARED AT the empty doorway until he couldn’t take the silence any longer. He snatched his keys off the table and raced toward the car. If he followed Eve, staying back far enough, she’d never know he was there. He’d park and watch her, just to make sure she was safe.

  He slid into the driver's seat and started the engine. Night time would soon be here. She wasn’t safe out alone. He headed out of the parking lot. Would she go left? Right? Right led to the center of the town, to shops and cafes—that’s where he’d find her. She couldn't have gone far. He spotted her white shirt and uneven gait pushing through the door of a café. Relief washed over him. He searched for somewhere to park. All he saw were cramped car spaces that were filled. The only place to pull up was at a No Parking sign. Fuck it! He wrung the steering wheel and drove on.

  He slowed and scanned the street for somewhere to turn. His gaze skimmed along street signs and filled car parks, searching for a turning signal, anything. His jaw clenched, his grip tightened. A man sat in an old Ford, his windows down, staring across the street, his elbow protruded from his window. There was something familiar about the way he tilted his head. Adley’s instinct screamed like the lead singer at an ACDC concert.

  His dark brown hair came into view. When Adley drove past, he turned, keeping his attention on the driver. The outline of his face was like a kick to Adley’s balls. His foot slipped from the accelerator and everything else slipped from view. Everything but that man in the car.

  It was him.

  Edric Hasting.

  The murderer is here.

  Adley’s heart pounded inside his chest as the Commodore coasted by. He searched his rear and side mirrors, swinging his gaze back and forward, melding that image into his brain. It’s him. There was no doubt. Edric Hasting's face would haunt him to his death.

  The blast of a horn snatched Adley’s attention back to the road. He trampled the accelerator, and then braked before he yanked on the wheel, aiming for a break in the oncoming traffic. He raced back the way he came and simultaneously reached across the passenger seat.

  While he searched the line of parked cars for the older Ford, he flicked the lever for the glove box compartment. His fingers found the sharp, patterned grip of the unregistered Glock. The serial numbers had been filed off by some drug-dealer, a parting gift he gave himself—fuck the departments gold watch he’d take Edric’s death any day.

  He leaned to the side and shoved the gun into the waist band of his jeans, as he caught sight of the empty parking spot. His hand slipped on the wheel. Adley slowed the car and finally stopped in the middle of street. Car horns blared behind him, but their sounds were dull and muffled inside his head. He didn’t pass me… He didn’t pass me. Adley spun, searching the traffic both ways. But there was no sight of the Ford or of Edric Hasting.

  He stumbled back to the car and slumped into the seat, jerking the door closed. The horns behind him seemed louder how, blaring like the pounding of his heart in his ears. He had been ready to end it all. To kill the murderer in the middle of this street and now… now he was gone.

  “No… no!”

  Adley gripped the wheel and inhaled hard, blowing out his anger so he could focus. The bastard was here for a reason. He was right here, right fucking here! He ripped the gear shift into drive and shot forward, pulling over to the side of the road and stopped the car. Horns blared as they passed him. He didn’t care.

  The gun dug into his hip as he climbed from the car and looked around through narrowed eyes, trying to see what had drawn Edric to this spot. Why was the bastard here? A barber shop sat in the middle, a chic women's clothing store sat on one side and
on the other, the building to the left appeared to be an office. A vein pulsed in the corner of his eye, and sweat trickled down his brow. There’s got to be something!

  He breathed deep, trying his best to keep calm. The desire to kill Edric Hasting was overwhelming. Ridding the planet of this scum was all he thought about. But, if he was honest, he was scared as well. When Adley could put his emotions aside, and think like he was trained to do, the rational somehow became irrational. The way Edric’s MO had suddenly changed. How he seemed to evade the police, time and time again. And the day of the attack, the day Adley barely survived being savaged by something no words could describe. His partner had been brutally murdered in front of him, while Edric vanished without a trace. At first nothing made sense, not when Adley applied what he already knew. So he stopped thinking rationally and started from scratch. And when he did, a new image emerged. From the case files and Eve’s account of what happened, he knew in his gut, Edric Hasting was now very different. He’d changed and he’d become… a vampire.

  No matter how many times he tried to argue with himself, he kept coming back to the same goddamn answer. Edric Hasting was no longer human. A vampire sounded crazy, but when his hold on reality was already fucking thin, instinct was all he could follow. Instinct was all a washed-out cop had left, and when his instinct told him to believe the unbelievable, he had no other choice.

  Adley got out of his car and took off toward the offices. The cool, sterile scent hit him as soon as he stepped through the automatic doors. A doctor’s office… Is the piece of shit injured? A surge of hope spread through Adley.

  A row of seated women looked at him above their magazines. Some shifted in their seats. Others touched their hair and bit their lower lip while their heated gazes raked him. The physical scars he carried made him look harder and more dangerous. He knew some women liked that. Confused as to why Edric might be here, he headed to the receptionist.

  “Can I help you?” A young woman stared over the rim of her glasses.

  The lie rolled off his tongue, like he’d practiced it many times. “I'm a detective assigned to the local station and I’m investigating some strange offences in the area. Have you had any theft or any incidents in the past few hours?”

  “Incidents. What kind of incidents?” He had her attention now, so much so, the ringing phone was all but forgotten.

  He smiled, trying his best to ease the situation. All he wanted was for her to confirm or deny his wild thoughts. “Just anything at all suspicious?” He winced slightly. What he wanted to ask sounded absurd. Any guys with pointy white teeth and no pulse? Jesus, even in his head, the question sounded insane.

  “Umm, you’re gonna need to be a bit more specific. Just wait a minute would you?” She held up a finger while she answered the phone.

  Shit, he was wasting time here. Why would Edric care about this place anyway? Adley searched the office. Women were staring at him. Pinned—and embarrassed—by the heated gazes, he decided perhaps he’d missed something about them, something important.

  One woman had a swollen stomach. The bump was slight, but noticeable all the same. He stared up at the shiny golden plaques which sat beside the receptionist, Purdita Bowles, IVF Pregnancy and Women’s Health Practitioner. The world closed in around him.

  He spun back to the receptionist, his heart racing, that damn vein near his eye convulsing. “I need to know if there was a blonde woman here not long ago?”

  The receptionist held up her finger again, and continued to talk on the phone. Adley reached across the desk and pressed the button, ending the call.

  “What the fuck?” The receptionist snapped and stood. “Why—”

  “I need to know if there was a blonde, pregnant woman here in the last hour or so?”

  “Um, there are a lot of blonde, pregnant women here… it’s an IVF clinic.”

  “You don’t understand.” Adley tried to keep from losing control, but all he could hear was the ticking of the clock, screaming at him. Every wasted second could mean this woman’s life!

  Adley gripped the counter. His fingers tuned white with the pressure of his grip. He had nothing else to go on. Nothing else he could say to make her understand. Poison ran though his veins.

  Hate had corrupted him—had changed him. And as he stepped back, lifted his shirt, showing this woman the gun in his hip, he realized he no longer knew himself.

  “I think you better run and get that doctor now, before I tear this fucking place apart.”

  The receptionist stumbled back, and dropped the handset of the phone. Her gaze caught on the sight of the gun on his hip. The color drained from her face and she lifted her head to glance at the seated women behind him. He reached for the grip of the Glock with one hand while he placed the other on the counter. He leaned forward, catching her panicked gaze and growled. “Run!”

  She stumbled sideways until she cleared the counter. The sounds of her heels on the hard floor echoed as she fled down the hallway to her left. He hurtled over the counter and rifled the desk. A blue, bound appointment book lay open near the phone. Adley wrenched the book toward him. He scrolled down the page of the afternoon’s appointments. One stood out to him, the red ink still fresh-smudged across the page as his fingers ran down the list. Her name was the last one ticked and scrawled with ‘paid’. This had to be her. Helen Leir….

  Adley ripped the page free and turned. The yellow phone book caught his eye as he took off around the counter. He snatched it from the shelf. The hysterical voice of the receptionist drifted down the hallway. He had to hurry. The police would be here any minute.

  The pregnant women watched him differently now as he raced past them and out of the building. The glare of the sunlight hit him like a blow as he raced for his car. He fumbled for the handle of the driver’s side door. He threw the phone book and the torn page onto the passenger’s seat, then jammed the key into the ignition and twisted the key, listening to the engine kick over. Adley resisted the urge to tramp the accelerator. He didn’t want to draw any more attention than he already had. The flash of a white coat caught Adley’s eye as he pulled out into the street. Guilt circled the wagons inside his mind. He’d done what he needed to do… the end justified the means—his argument sounded hollow.

  He turned into a side street and pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed the page and phone book, praying Helen Leir was listed. The pages shook as he flicked through to L and scrolled down the pages of names finding one listing. K&H Leir. Adley punched in the address into his GPS, and then tramped the accelerator. The automated voice gave directions in a continuous stream. He drove at break-neck speed. Eve… The pain of not seeing her one last time cut deep. His heart gave a yelp before he turned his focus back to the road.

  The GPS voice spoke amidst the blaring over-speed alarm. Adley glanced at the street number clicking by as he rocketed through the quiet suburb, until the voice announced his arrival. He parked two houses down and switched off the engine, searching for the old Ford.

  What if I’m wrong? He didn’t want to think about the consequences of a misguided guess. He got out of the car, leaving the hiss of the radiator behind, and crept back up the path to the driveway. A yellow car sat beside the house. The vehicle wasn’t the Ford. Adley ran his hand across the hood. The metal was still warm. Whoever had driven the car hadn’t been home long. He reached behind his back and gripped the Glock, while he stepped up to the front door and knocked.

  There was no answer. Adley held his breath, listening for anything other than the pounding of his own heart. A soft knock, knock, knock sounded from deep inside the house. He looked along the street, knowing he was about to descend into Peeping Tom status, if he was caught. He hoped he was caught. A shocked occupant would mean the woman was okay and he was wrong… Adley stepped back from the front door and made his way around to the back.

  The knocking sound grew louder when Adley walked along the side of the house and stopped at the back door. Something was strikin
g the door. He placed his hand lightly on the wood, feeling the thump reverberate. The square glass panes were covered with some type of curtain, so he couldn't see a damn thing. The noise grated on what was left of his nerve. What the fuck is that?

  He lifted the gun, ready to smash down the door, but he tried the lock first. The knob slipped from his sweaty palms. He gripped the metal harder, twisted, and pushed.

  Blood.

  All he saw was blood.

  Movement to his right was so fast, he didn’t have time to think. He bought up the muzzle of the gun, searching the kitchen in front of him. But, Jesus… Jesus… blood was everywhere. A body was spread wide atop the once-white tiles. A woman’s body. The tips of her blonde hair splayed out in clumps like a red-dipped Medusa. The flesh of her stomach was sliced and spread open. Pale, pink organs hung over the cage of her ribs. Her entrails decorated the once-white tiled floor like untwisted sausages. Adley’s legs stopped moving. Everything stopped, as though the world around him was frozen. His eyes were captured by that sight and he was unable to look away. A tiny fist protruded from between her organs. Adley couldn’t help but stare at the tiny fingers complete with nails. He followed the doll-like arm to a little chest and the frozen effigy of the unborn child’s face.

  Adley choked back a cry and swallowed a rock, which formed in the center of his throat, at the same time as he caught sight of a blur. He lifted the gun and was firing before he realized he’d even aimed. The movement was so fast he couldn't track it. He swung the gun from side to side, catching sight of an arm, a leg—nothing that would give him the center of his target. Until the blur stopped and the murderer appeared.

  Although, he wasn’t the Edric Hasting he’d known. He was now very different. The bastard came for him, all fangs and deadly eyes. Adley took the blow in the stomach and flew through the air before he hit the ground, hard.

  Edric was on top of him a second later. He threw Adley across the potted plants like he weighed nothing at all. Adley squeezed off a shot before he hit the ground—and his head. His aim wasn’t perfect, but the bullet hit the filthy fucker. Edric whirled and stumbled. A second later he was hitting Adley with the force of Mack truck. Adley would’ve loved to have taken another shot, but he was too busy trying to keep Edric from breaking his goddamn neck. He hit the ground with a bone-snapping jolt that knocked the wind out of him. Adley struggled to his knees and took aim.